During teacher orientation week at The Education Co-operative (TEC) campus, longtime colleagues are just meeting for the first time, as longtime classmates will finally see their peers once school starts in September.

In their new building, TEC will house programs that have operated for years in different area schools all under one roof, offering students an alternative learning center that feels like their own, Director Liz McGonagle said. The collaborative allows 16 area school districts – including Walpole – to come together and pool their resources, offering special education, alternative high school, online courses and more at what McGonagle said is an affordable price.

Started in 1968, TEC is a membership-based co-op that looks to provide options to districts and parents to expand educational resources. By working as a collaborative, TEC is able to help districts make bulk purchases at a lower cost and provide professional development in addition to their focus on special education.

"We exist to do things for our [members] in a way that's more cost effective than they can do for themselves," McGonagle said.

Starting on Sept. 4, classes will kick off at the new campus, bringing programs together that were before scattered across the region. The building will host special education programs, an alternative high school and a new online academy serving grades K-12. McGonagle said the programs worked well in isolation, but the new school will bring them to a new level.

"It gives [the kids] consistency, it gives them a feeling of their own campus, it gives us access to install technology and train our teachers in the classroom setting very consistently and the kids love it," McGonagle said. "It's so much easier to collaborate."

While the students stand to gain the benefit of consistency and being with their peers, McGonagle said the teachers will see the same rewards.

"The benefit to the staff is they can meet, and a lot of teaching is collaborative work," she said. "Especially with very complex kids."

"The goal here is to try and have a lot more resources readily available than when we were scattered about," TEC Campus Program Director Meredith Faletra said.

With more minds in one place, McGonagle and Faletra said the new school will provide the students with more opportunities than when they were isolated. For example, Faletra said the teachers came together and brainstormed a gardening program that would bring together special needs students and TEC high school students. Bringing special needs students together with non-special needs peers is an important part of their education, McGonagle said.

Walpole Superintendent Lincoln Lynch said having teachers work together is important to helping every student learn.

"The new campus provides a modern learning environment with cutting edge technology. For example, if I connect with a student and another teacher is struggling, we can have a conversation more readily on how that student learns and how we can best approach their education plan," Lynch said.

Page 2 of 2 - Collaborative members will also see a benefit to the new school, Lynch said. "The entire cost of the collaborative will decrease because of the efficiencies in the building," he said.

TEC leases classrooms to the Bi-County Collaborative, revenue that Lynch said could offset member fees, which sit at $2,400 per year. Walpole will also see a reduction in transportation costs for the district's seven special education students who attend TEC programs. Rather than bringing them to the various towns TEC used to operate in Lynch said transporting to an in-town school is much easier.

The TEC program mainly focuses on providing education to students with complex special needs, McGonagle said, including medical or emotional disabilities. "The vast majority of our work is in special education programs. In this building we're going to be home to very complex, medically fragile kids."

The alternative high school caters to kids with severe anxiety or other emotional needs that inhibit their performance in a traditional classroom. For students who might not always be able to be present in a physical classroom – such as traveling athletes, actors or a child who must stay home for other reasons – TEC is pioneering an online school for grades K-12.

Called the TEC Connection Academy (TECCA), the online school offers full time courses, or single courses for students looking to supplement their education. Teachers will offer live online classes and recorded ones, broadcast from the TEC building. So far, McGonagle said 500 students are registered for the fully online schooling.

"It’s just another option," she said. "That’s what we have to give families today.

TEC is all about options. It gives options to school districts on what price they pay for necessary resources. It gives options to parents looking to send their students outside the public school realm. And, it gives options to students who have needs that aren’t being met in a traditional classroom.

"We want this to be a place where we’re always learning," McGonagle said.

Classes at the new TEC school and the TECCA online school start on Sept. 3. Visit www.tec-coop.org for more information.